July 20, 2013
I attended Father Maxwell's seminar on the Theology of the Body instead of attending a Pre Canan seminar with reasons that I could not find a seminar near our place that offered that kind of seminar at that time because most of the churches near us offered only whenever there were couples who would be getting married at that church which was a bit seasonal. Anyways, First I would give a brief narrative on Father Maxwell's enlightening and interesting seminar on the Theology of the Body then I give some insights and reflection on what I have learned from that seminar.
Before starting his lecture on the topic he first asked members of the audience (mostly those of different races) to stand up on stage for a short activity that would start off on his main point of the lecture. About 5 (I think) went up on stage one of them were a Korean, a half-German (again I think), a half-Chinese, a gay guy and one of them was the host of the program. When they were onstage Father Maxwell asked then what do they call their sexual organs in their own language or how they call them (despite what language). From that question, there were awkward and scared reactions from the 5 people and the one who answered first and honestly was the gay guy who wasn't that much ashamed of saying his answer in front of a lot of people. From that short activity, I had a glimpse on where the lecture would be leading.
The lecture talks mostly about the body and how we should not be ashamed of our body. First of all in saying the names like penis, vagina etc. because the body was created by God which means that we should not be ashamed of it. He explained to us that John Paul II acknowledge the theology of the body. And gave lectures on the theology of the body and most of his lectures were compiled and was made into a book.
Father Maxwell talks about the Holy Trinity and its reflection to the married life wherein there is the FATHER, the SON and the HOLY SPIRIT and it is paralleled to the FATHER being the LOVER, the SON being the BELOVED and the HOLY SPIRIT is love (I think, from what I remember) and that is the image of God's love.
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| Inverted triangle showed by Father Maxwell http://i.imgur.com/T6OSd.png |
He the proceeds in the body and how we should look at it and look at others. In short, his point is that we should not be ashamed of our body because it's the image of likeness of God and we came from the love that God gave our parents. The body is a gift from God, which means he created it and we should not be ashamed of our body. There was also a part of the lecture (I don't quite remember if it was in the beginning or the end or the middle) where in he explained the Creation of Man. Wherein Man and the Woman are created for each other.
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The Seminar ended with a question and answer portion where there were serious and unusual question. One question was about homosexual relationship. Father Maxwell explained that there's nothing wrong with it unless if they tried intercourse. I don't know if Father Maxwell is referring to himself or the church when he said about not looking down on homosexual relationship. One also asked about masturbation and if it was a sin. I don't actually remembered what Father Maxwell answered but I think it's in the lines with it being not that bad or something. One unusual question was about the creation, he was saying that Eve was the third wife of Adam but Father Maxwell cut him off because he explained that the only legit story was in the Bible. After a few questions or so, Father Maxwell ended his lecture and the seminar ended with a song sung by Patty Lim.
REFLECTION
The lecture of Father Maxwell was one of the most enlightening lecture that I have attended and there are a few points in his lecture that really struct me. I would really like reflect most of the striking points of Father Maxwell and relate it to my life and my view on marriage and the body then and now. To be honest I didn't really expected that it would be a great talk because I thought it would be just another boring sermon by a priest but I have learned lots of things that day and made me realize a lot of things too.
- We should not be ashamed of our bodies
It was really a great pleasure having my TREDFOR class and GENDERS class at the same time because most of what Genders is teaching us was also been said by Father Maxwell only there's a few theology about it. This main point of Father Maxwell really made a big impact on me. He said that when we look at our body we will know more about God which was a bit more spiritual than what our Genders class has taught us but that was one of the most beautiful things that I've remembered in the lecture. I then ask myself, we are we ashamed of our body so much that we can't even say the words penis and vagina in public or probably even in private, why are we so ashamed whenever we talk about it? Or talk about sex? I just love how he said that our body will make us know more about God and that we should not be ashamed because it was created by God.
- Man and Woman were created for each other
For me I don't really believe that Man is made exclusively for women and vice versa because I am for homosexuality and equality but listening to what Father Maxwell had to say on homosexuality and Man and Woman created for each other made me think about that issue in a more depth. Man and Woman are created for each other because of the life they could bring to the world which no other type of couple could bring up naturally (something like that). It's not really a discrimination on homosexuality and all that because they are just saying that creating another life is God's intention of Man and Woman being together. It was really interesting when Father Maxwell told us his viewpoint in homosexual relationship, where he said that there's nothing wrong with it but it would not be truly complete because they could not be able to produce another life naturally but he has nothing against homosexuality which is a good thing because I used to think that whoever is associated with the church may it be a priest or a religion teacher would automatically be against homosexual relationships. It's really cool that for them there's nothing really that wrong with homosexual relationship. It also gave me a new viewpoint on the story of Adam and Eve, I never really bothered to actually analyse. I only thought that God made Adam, God saw Adam was sad and lonely then He made Eve... just that but there's this idea that God created Eve for Adam because He saw that there is something incomplete and "kulang" with His creation thus creating Eve. Even though it was not really a big surprising revelation it just gave me a new perspective on that story of creation.
- THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLY SPIRIT | THE LOVER, THE BELOVED, AND LOVE
I never really thought of marriage that way really. Relating the Holy Trinity to marriage was a bit poetic for me which is a good thing because I never really thought of it that way. It made me really think that we should really love our spouses the way God has loved His son. God is with us when we are getting married that we are getting married with him and God is still with us when we are creating a family of our own and loving them. Looking now at my family I now see that we (the children) are created out of the love my parents had for each other. Seriously, I never really focused on my parents having me because of their unconditional love for each other that is reflected on the Holy Trinity and guided by God, I only focused on my parents having me because they just wanted to have a family.... just that.
Anyways those were the three main points that was really striking for me during the lecture and all in all the lecture was really an uplifting and enlightening lecture that I was glad to attend. The truth is I think lectures like this should be given to all teenagers to let us see the importance of our body, marriage and love. Some of the points Father Maxwell talked about was really interesting to reflect upon. I am really glad that I attended this seminar and a bit sad that I didn't get to attend a Pre Canan seminar because I want to know more on what they tell people who are going to get married on probably marriage, love and sex.
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